Birchot Ha’Nehenin

I always wondered why there were so many details surrounding which bracha to make on which food. The gemara spends pages and pages discussing how much flour a food has to have in order to require the bracha of borei minei mezonot, the detailed parameters of ha’etz vs. ha’adama, and the definition of bread, to name just a few of the topics in the 6th perek of Masechet Brachot. The obvious question is, why? Why the seemingly unnecessary legalistic detail? Why not have a general thanks for the food? If the purpose is to thank God for sustenance and realize that we are eating only by his grace, a general shehakol would seem to suffice (and indeed it does, bedi’avad). I think the answer lies in the fact that we are not only supposed to focus on God in brachot. The purpose of birchot ha’nehenin is not only to realize that God gave us this food. The focus is also, and perhaps no less importantly, on the food itself. What exactly is this specific pleasure God has given us? Is it a fruit of the ground? Of the tree? Has it been processed by man? How did it get here? This causes us to stop and pay attention to the food we are eating, and to deepen our appreciation of the food itself.

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2 Responses

Even though birchos hanehenin are somewhat specific, in that there are categories, we don’t have a specific bracha for each food item. Like, no borei ha’fruit roll-up. So, if the point is to focus on the food, why don’t we refer to each food on its own? I’ve been rolling that question around for a while and I wonder what’s up with that. Because I think that essentially your interpretation is correct…so then what is the opposing value or legal concern that keeps brachos from being truly specific?

Also, saying some sort of grace before meals is a feature of many religions, which certainly supports the view that making brachos is “svara.” But (and I don’t think I want to be on the record on this) I think we’re the only ones who divide it by food-category. I wonder what that says, if anything, about the Jewish personality.

I’ll tell you one thing, having just one bracha rishona will make for one bo-ring brachos bee.

How could one refer to each food on it’s own in a standardized framework? As part of the standardization of brachot, some sort of categorization is needed. Individual food brachot only work if the text is not set.